The invention includes arrangements to substantially improve customer benefits in window air conditioning and at the same time to reduce assembly and installation requirements and operating noise for a cooling and/or ventilating air treatment appliance.
To cool a certain location such as the room of a home, an air cooling unit of an air conditioning system (or xe2x80x9cair conditionerxe2x80x9d) may draw heat from the room into a coolant working fluid. To expel the heat absorbed into the fluid, the air conditioner may route that heated coolant to a location that is remote from the room. There, a heat discharging unit may expel the heat from the coolant into the remote location, typically outdoors.
Conventional room air conditioners may be categorized into window or split air conditioners. A unitary air conditioner may be a unit in which the air cooling unit and the heat discharging outdoor unit are fixed relative to one another to form a single housing. A split air conditioner may be a unit in which the position of the air cooling unit relative to the heat discharging outdoor unit may be varied.
In the area of split air conditioners, assembly, installation, and operating noise are major concerns for customers who purchase air conditioners. One type of split air conditioner is a saddle mount air conditioner. A saddle mount air conditioner may include a low profile service channel disposed between an indoor, air cooling unit and an outdoor, heat discharging unit to permit air, condensate water, coolant, and electricity to pass between each unit. The service channel may be placed on the sill of a window so that the indoor unit and the outdoor unit straddle the sill at locations that are significantly below the horizontal level of the sill.
A problem with conventional window as well as split air conditioners, is they are difficult to assemble and install. For example, service channels of conventional split air conditioners are banded tubes that are pre-charged with working fluid, expensive and limited in their ability to adjust to fit a variety of home constructions. Moreover, heavy, bulky, heat discharging outdoor units of split air conditioners increase the cost of installation. It is desirable that the connecting tube between the heat transfer coils of a split air conditioner be charged with coolant at the factory and that the various auxiliary service tubing be connected at the factory rather than the home of the consumer. However, due to the design of conventional service channels, professional on-site installation is necessary to connect the air, water, coolant, and electrical service lines between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit.
In operation, conventional split air conditioners produce a great amount of noise that finds its way into the inside of a consumer""s home. For example, noise from air drawn into the top of the heat discharging unit is propagated through the window glass to the inside of a consumer""s home. Also, for window air conditioners in general, an ongoing problem is the noise generated by the components of the air cooling unit located within the consumer""s home. Air cooling unit components such as the evaporator fan motor, the speed of the evaporator fan, the arrangement of the evaporator fan, and the condensate removal system each generate noise which is propagated into the room.
It is desirable to have a hybrid room air conditioner that can be configured either as a saddle mount air conditioner which gives customers full access to the window without obstruction or can be assembled as a conventional split or portable air conditioner. It is also desirable to have a unique mechanism that makes the saddle window air conditioner installation simple and easy.
The invention includes a local unit that may be utilized to provide local cooling and/or air purifying. The local unit may function as the cooling function for a split air conditioner, or a window unit such as a portable air conditioner or a saddle air conditioner. The local unit functions to draw air in a frontal portion and to exit the air out a peripheral portion, thus allowing the unit to be utilized in the same vertical orientation regardless of the configuration of the overall units.
In a preferred embodiment, the local unit is configured with two vertically disposed cross flow fans to draw air from the room, over the evaporator and exhaust the cooled air out through the periphery of the local unit. A similarly configured local unit includes an axial flow or centrifugal fan (herein after xe2x80x9cfanxe2x80x9d) that may be driven directly or indirectly by an electric motor.
In a saddle mount air conditioner configuration, an installation bracket is provided with the saddle air conditioner disposed over the installation bracket, the saddle air conditioner having a remote unit coupled to a local unit with a bridge, and wherein the remote unit includes a back having at least one grill that is adapted to permit air to pass through the back of the remote unit into the remote unit of the saddle air conditioner.